Dav'y Shellback Talks to Recruits

Updated 03/21/2003 11:45

Preface

One of the great joys of Sea Scouting in “the
good old days” was to have a ‘gam, or talk, with Dav’y Shellback, a
wise old sailor who had sailed the Seven Seas for many a year.Dav’y had finally “swallowed the anchor” and was laid up on dry
land.Dav’y spoke to young
Sea Scouts through the Sixth Edition of The Sea Scout Manual, published
between 1939 and ____, and imparted wisdom and advice that is timeless in
its nature and still a great treasure today.“Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, as
Dav’y Shellback gams again.”

Hark,
now, Davy Shellback's an old A. B.; deep water has gurgled abeam me weather
ear from Cape Stiff to the Baffinlands an' I've l'arned to pull me forelock
on deck an' take me ease below in clipper, frigate and whaler. 'Tis a hard
life but a glorious one an' yer shipmate Davy Shellback don't regret a watch
o' it, he ­don't.
Not him, lad. I only wisht I was yer own years ag'in; keel haul me fer a
cook's cat, ef I wouldn't sign on all over ag'in. But all's I can do is sit
on a pier-head an' watch the tall ships speed by, manned by the likes o'
yerself, an' yarn an' gam sentimental o' the old days. But I takes small
comfort from it, laddy-mate, fer in me old heart I know that those days be
still with us. It matters not that yur ships ain't my ships. The heart o'
'em are the same, be it a noble spread of strainin' canvas or a honest thump
in' Deisel, an' the men as man 'em are the same. Sailors all, matey, a whoop
in', land­hatin', lovin', growlin' crew o' the finest cre'tures as ever
lived atween the two poles. God bless 'em, says Davy Shellback reverent, an' keep
sendin' 'em forever an' forever to love the little
ships as follows His mighty oceans!

'Twould
be a pleasure to spin yarns with ye, lad. A pleasure indeed fer no sailor
ever lived who couldn't make a whopper outen the littlest forepeak happinen'.
'Tis one o' the sports o' sailorin'! But 'tis far better to tell 'em than
listen. So Davy Shellback will rig yer for to meet yer ship an' wait
impatient fer the day ye return with yer own yarns. What fun ye'll have
a'gatherin' em! Laddy-mate, the thrills ye have a'comin'! Oh, I can see ye,
a stalwart upstandin' 'pprentice, risin' to yer skipper's notice like I
predic'. Ord'nary seaman they'll rate ye, lad, an' then Able Bodied an' then
one day all hands will be piped an' ye'll be Quartermaster! Quartermaster,
bucko-boy, with yer silver stripes, all handsome an' the watch respectful
an' yer heart within ye nigh to bustin' with the pride o' achievement! An'
Mate! An' Skipper! Ah, lad, 'tis a noble course to sail, this Sea Scoutin'!

'Twill
be too much fer ye to remember, matey, so I'll set it down neat an' tidy
like a schoolmarm, all stowed an' labeled regular like the signal flags in
the Old Man's flag locker. Ye reach fer what ye want and thar she be, handy,
fer It minutes studyin' or a passage to China-land.